8 Aug 2017

11 June 16 - Bonuses of Gardening

During the spring Birding season, the garden tends to get a big overgrown with weeds as obviously the Birding takes priority. But as the local Birding quietens down, then I end up having to spend a fair bit of time to get the garden back under control. Usually there are a few bonuses of spending time in the garden & this year was more interesting than usual with my third & fourth records of Large Skipper.

Large Skipper: Only my third record for the garden, with the fourth on 1 July 17

The gardening also produces the first records for the year of my resident Dark Bush crickets.

Dark Bush Cricket: Nymph

The highlight of the gardening was getting adopted by one of my local Blackbirds. Occasionally, in previous years, a Robin has appeared to check out the gardening. However, when that has happened, they have never got particularly close. This summer this male Blackbird appeared quickly as soon as I started gardening & was very happy to be looking for food about as close as two or three feet away. In the end, I kept moving up & down the garden a bit more to give it a bit more room to look for worms in the area I had just been working on. Although, he quickly moved to where I was currently removing weeds from, if I didn't move on. Clearly, this gardening worked out well for both of us, as I've had up to four young fully grown Blackbirds in the garden for the last few weeks. What I particularly enjoyed was being able to get the SX60 down at ground level & angle the viewing screen up so I could frame the photo without having to lie down to take the photo. It's rare that I get the opportunity to get a up close ground view: when I do it always feels very rewarding.

Blackbird: Male. Great to be adopted by this individual

Blackbird: With this interest in gathering worms, it's no wonder why the youngsters were well brought up

Blackbird: Must have been watching Puffin videos with a bill full of fish through my window

About Me

I've been a keen British birder since the age of 13. These days I
generally bird locally around Poole Harbour, the Purbeck coastline &
Dorset sites. However, the twitching urge from the late 70s hasn't left
& I will quickly go for ticks in the UK & Ireland. The recent Two-barred Greenish Warbler & Elegant Tern (2017) & BOU (IOC) taxonomy have brought the UK/Irish list up to 534 BOU (IOC)/IRBC. 5 species have only been seen in Ireland. Note, the Pasty-pouched (Dalmatian) Pelican is still pended.I started an English List a few years ago for a bit of fun, as it has only been since 2009 that I've started twitching Scotland & Scottish isles. A run of Ticks in 2017 (Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Elegant Tern, Yellow Warbler & a Richardson's Cackling Goose in Northumberland) & BOU (IOC) taxonomy have brought the English List to 503. The aim of this blog is to showcase both the excellent birds & other wildlife in the UK as well as abroad. Go out & have a look yourself. There is some great wildlife out there in the UK.I have travelled extensively abroad in all continents, except Antarctica. I saw my last Clements family, Sharpbill, in SE Brazil (Sept 04) joining a very exclusive group of birders to have seen at least one of each of the bird families of the world (taxonomic changes mean I need to see at least one of the 9 new families that have recently been recognised). I plan to see at least one of each of the new families by 2020. My World List is 6329 (Clements 2017 taxonomy). My Western Pale List is 703 (AERC taxonomy & BWP boundaries).The photos are protected from copying (as some bloggers have no scruples about stealing other peoples photos to make their dreary blogs look better). However, I will happily forward copies of the photos if you also saw the bird. Just ask using the comments option.